Young COZY MK IV N96PJ

Summary

On 4 October 1996 at about 23:30 local time, a Young COZY MK IV registered N96PJ was involved in an accident near Pueblo, Colorado, United States. One person was on board and one was seriously injured. The aircraft was substantially damaged. The NTSB has published a probable cause for this accident; it is quoted in full below.

Date

4 October 1996 at 23:30

Classification

Accident

Location

Pueblo, Colorado, United States

Coordinates

38.2899, -104.5404

Aircraft

Young COZY MK IV

Registration

N96PJ

Category

Airplane

Engines

1

Operator

Not recorded

Operating rule

Part 91: General Aviation

Purpose of flight

Unknown

Phase of flight

Not recorded

Aircraft damage

Substantial

Weather

VMC

Light

Day

NTSB number

FTW97LA009

1 person was seriously injured.

the pilot/builder's improper design change which resulted in a loss of control following an intentional stall. A factor was an erroneous weight-and-balance calculation.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record. This site does not paraphrase or interpret it.

Read the full NTSB narrative

According to the pilot, he was practicing slow flight and stalls at 5,000 feet above ground level (10,000 feet msl). The only thing he could recall was that the 'main wing stalled' and that the canard was supposed to stall first. The nose pitched up, and he was unable to break the stall. After examining the wreckage, the airplane designer and an FAA airworthiness inspector concluded (1) the canard wing had too low an angle-of-incidence, (2) three of six vortilons had been removed from the main wing, (3) the pilot erroneously calculated the empty weight center of gravity (CG), making all other CG calculations incorrect, and (4) as fuel flowed towards the aft portion of the fuel tank during the stall, the CG moved 1.1 inches beyond the aft CG limit. The designer concluded that the aircraft had not been built according to the plans, but rather was 'converted' to an 'Aerocanard...an unauthorized, unapproved, rip-off design.' The pilot had about 400 hours of flight time in various Cozy aircraft, but he had accrued only about 17 hours in the Cozy MK IV.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.